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EOU’s Millennial Community

Photos by Laura Hancock / The EOU Millennial Community currently includes students Kevin Attila, Brittany Hargrove, Ryan Kleeve and Miles Loupe. The group’s advisors are Shari Carpenter, associate professor of business, and Justin Chin, Career Center director.

LA GRANDE, Ore. (EOU) – Students studying business, communications and marketing at Eastern Oregon University are participating in a new network that could lead to employment opportunities with major corporations around the country.

Dubbed the EOU Millennial Community, the group is a segment of the National Millennial Community initiated by Bill Imada. Imada is the founder, chairman and chief connectivity officer for IW Group – a marketing communications, advertising and public relations firm representing some of the nation’s largest companies and brands.

The marketing executive who was born and raised in Ontario will be on campus Wednesday, March 2. Students are invited to a social hour with him starting at 5 p.m. in the Hoke Union Building Main Lounge.

Imada will then give a keynote about the Millennial Community and other topics at 6:20 p.m. in Zabel Hall, Room 101. The presentation is free and open to the public. Seating is limited.

“Bill is a huge champion for the eastern Oregon region,” said Justin Chin, director of EOU’s Career Services Center. “He is very energetic, and his experience and expertise spark exciting ideas that everyone can benefit from.”

Membership in the EOU Millennial Community currently includes students Kevin Attila, Brittany Hargrove, Ryan Kleeve and Miles Loupe. Shari Carpenter, associate professor of business, and Chin are the advisors.

Carpenter and her marketing class established a relationship with Imada when hosting him for a speaking engagement on campus last spring. Now EOU is the only university in Oregon participating with the national network of more than 200 students and faculty.

The group meets weekly to participate in phone conferences with leadership from marketing, business and communications firms.

Some of the corporations students are connecting with include NBC Universal, the Association of National Advertisers, Public Broadcasting Service, the United Parcel Service, Weber Shandwick, a public relations firm – even the Ultimate Fighting Championship.

“It’s an avenue for students to gain social capital and career development,” Chin explained. “Professionals share advice and insight into company growth while learning from students what marketing strategies they should be using to attract teens and young adults.”

Undergraduates are co-leading the conference calls and one EOU student, Miles Loupe, will be visiting NBC Universal’s headquarters in New York City in March. Groups are also networking online using a platform called Basecamp.

“This is giving students the opportunity to play with the big leagues on the business field,” Carpenter said. “It’s also an example of crowd-sourcing at its finest, because executives are gaining a wide breadth of information from millennials.”

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